Not clipped on, all crew lost overboard

by Lisa Mylchreest on 1 Jun 2010 No matter how many Safe Boating Weeks are held, no matter how strong the campaigns to wear life jackets and stay clipped on, still tragic incidents happen which could have been avoided.

Last week yet another double sailing tragedy occurred which will never be fully explained - two sailors fell overboard and their sailing boat sailed onto a beach.

The bodies of two sailors were found, one floating, the other on shore after they were washed off their boat during a weekend sailing trip. As there were no witnesses, it will never be known how the tragedy occurred.

It happened in waters off San Francisco, in rough seas off San Francisco's famous Cliff House restaurant.

Jeffrey and Elizabeth Easterling, both in their fifties, were on board a 33ft sailing boat, Barcarolle, returning from a voyage down the San Mateo County coast and heading for the Golden Gate bridge. The incident was first reported by a waiter at the famous restaurant who noticed the yacht behaving strangely.

The U.S. Coast Guard sent a boat from the Coast Guard station at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, Petty Officer Pamela Manns told the San Francisco Chronicle. The rescue vessel was on scene half an hour later.

The Coast Guard rescue boat determined that the eight-foot waves so close to the rocky coastline made it too hazardous to take the boat under tow. The crew of a Coast Guard helicopter also was sent to search for survivors, but no one had been found before dark.

By Monday morning, the Barcarolle had drifted ashore. Jeffrey Easterling's body was discovered later in the morning on Ocean Beach south of the Cliff House, and his wife's body found floating at sea.

The National Weather Service had posted a small-craft advisory for westerly winds up to 25 knots Sunday, but such winds are common in the vicinity of the Golden Gate at this time of the year. There was no strong tidal current in the vicinity at the time the accident was reported.